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Topic: Moving A Hive (Read 1446 times)

I have seen post saying to either move a hive at night or close it up and move it early in the morning to avoid loss of field bees. What I'm wondering if I moved a hive sometime in the early afternoon would the loss of bees really be that much? I prefer to be able to see and at the same time have the least amount of traffic on the road. People working, kids in school etc..

You'll have a lot of bees in the field by that time of day. If you want to move during the day, it might be best if you get a piece of screen (from a old screen door) and cover the entrance(s) with it the evening before you move. That way you'll get most of your bees inside after they return from the field, and then won't be able to get out until you're ready. You'll still have straggler bees trying to get in, but the loss won't be as great.

How about if I move the colony in the early afternoon and leave a box with new foundation (don't have any old) on the stand for the returning bees and go back in the evening to move the single box which should be very easy because it would basicaly be empty as far as weight goes. Would the field bees stay in that empty box until evening?

The field bees returning to their old location and finding an empty box (even one with foundation or combs) might join a nearby queenright colony, if one is very near their old location, especially during a strong to moderate honey flow. That's what mine do, a cluster may form at the old location, but since there are several other colonies nearby the clusters are usually absorbed by the next morning.

If you screen them in the night before it should be easier to ensure they all stay together.

I move them all the time in the day one box at a time. If I had help and if it was convenient, I'd probably close them up after dark, but it never is. I just move them and put a brach in fron the of the new location. I remove all the equipment and just before dark, if there are still bees at the old site, I'll put an empty box with a bottom and lid. After dark I'll close that up and move it right next to the new site with a branch in front of it. By the second night they have all figured out the new location.

Assuming I'm moving it somewhere in the same yard, I don't close anything up except the empty box with the stragglers after dark while I'm carrying it to the new site and that's only because it's dark and I don't like to face bees after dark. They are not in the mood. After I get it next to the new site I open it up also.

If I'm moving a hive several miles away, I'd load them on a trailer a box at a time with the trailer as close as I can get to the old hive and then wait for them to settle down, preferably dark, and then close them up.